In systems for conducting high temperature and pressure fluids, such as in aircraft, various pipe joints are necessary to provide connections between lengths of pipe. Some of these joints are rigid and therefore do not allow relative angular movement between the coupled pipes while others are flexible joints that allow for such movement. However, use of either type of known joint typically fails to provide a joint which both has an efficient, long lasting sealing ability and takes into consideration initial angular misalignment of the pipes due to the manufacturing tolerances built into the pipes and joints.
Thus, rigid joints are intended to rigidly connect the pipes without any angular misalignment movement after the joint is made-up and thus they tend to be unable to accept the angular misalignment caused by manufacturing tolerances. In some cases, prior art rigid joints are known that do accept certain angular misalignment tolerances; however, they are usually very heavy and do not accept a significant amount of such angular misalignment.
As for flexible joints, while they accept angular misalignment when they are made-up, they allow continuous relative angular movement between connected pipes and therefore consistently erode the sealing efficiency provided by a seal in the joint due to the constant angular movement between the pipes. Examples of such flexible joints are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,368,786 to de Graff; 2,451,437 to Fenlon; 2,840,394 to Rohr; 3,047,315 to Kinnison; and 3,479,061 to Smookler et al.
Thus, there is a continuing need for improvement in sealed, rigid pipe joints for use, for example, in aircraft conduit systems having high pressure and temperature fluid, such as air, flowing therethrough, which have long lasting seals and accept initial angular misalignment of the pipes.